College Station readies for Aggies' Saturday SEC debut

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Inside the newly renovated Memorial Student Center, a choral group put on an entertaining performance Friday afternoon. Clad in matching maroon T-shirts, the students finished up with a spirited rendition of the Aggie War Hymn. A crowd of several dozen locked arms and swayed, like always:

"Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck …" and so on. Even without the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band, it's one of college football's great traditions. But the second verse seemed especially significant, and given the occasion, never more appropriate:

"Good bye to texas university So long to the orange and the white …"

On the eve of Texas A&M's SEC opener, everything has changed -- and maybe nothing has. As kickoff against Florida approached, there was a palpable buzz. Temperatures hovered near 100 degrees. A few Gators fans were universally greeted with a friendly "Howdy!" and ushered inside, out of the heat. But the campus was beginning to fill with excited Aggies in maroon.

It's always like this on a football weekend, but Kevin Sumlin, A&M's coach, says the place has never been more energized, and there's no reason to doubt him. ESPN's College GameDay will broadcast Saturday morning from the Simpson Drill Field, adjacent to the Memorial Student Center. Before that, though, a crowd of as many as 35,000 -- maybe 10,000 more than usual -- was expected for the traditional Midnight Yell at Kyle Field.

References to the Aggies' new conference affiliation are everywhere. SEC logos have been painted on the turf at Kyle Field. You can find them on footballs and T-shirts and the "12th Man" towels being sold inside the bookstore. The SEC is imprinted on everyone's mind, too -- which means in one sense, "Good bye to texas university" is exactly right (the lower-case is official).

The beginning of a new era is another reminder of the end -- at least on the field --of the bitter rivalry that in many ways has been the focal point of Texas A&M football for generations. The Aggies don't play the Longhorns anymore, and it is going to take some getting used to.

Or maybe not.

"We're ready to move on," says Harold Edge, Texas A&M class of 1955.

On Friday afternoon, he and his younger brother Bill (Class of '60) were wandering through the Memorial Student Center, which only recently reopened. When it comes to the Longhorns, the brothers can't help but, well, to gig 'em. Harold lives in New Braunfels, Bill in Houston. They say their UT friends are "jealous as they can be."

But doesn't it feel weird to end the rivalry?

"Just wait," Bill says, "until we win the SEC. They'll be begging us to play 'em."

Finally, the Aggies really are saying "good bye to texas university." But even without the actual games, the rivalry isn't going anywhere.

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